Facility modelization for facility benchmarking

ABSTRACT

Users desire to normalize raw data from meter load profile acquisition systems against some attributes (i.e., properties) of a facility, such as the number of employees. The facility area, and the number of products produced would be additional potential attributes for consideration. Normalization involves dividing a load profile channel such as kiloWatt hours by a determined facility attribute to obtain a new data set, for example, such as “kWh/Employee.” The present modelization allows a user to define a set of attributes and manage their value over time to refine the facility model. Keeping track of the attributes over time provides increased accuracy in the resulting data. The model is managed by a user interface which can be refined over time as the facility evolves. Data comprising sets of attributes over time may persist within the system for later retrieval.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims priority to, and is a continuation of, priorpending U.S. Patent Application U.S. Ser. No. 09/849,938, filed May 4,2001, and issuing May 15, 2007 as U.S. Pat. No. 7,219,069, and which isherein incorporated by reference in its entirety. Any disclaimer thatmay have occurred during prosecution of the above-referenced applicationis hereby expressly rescinded.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to improved method and apparatusfor looking at energy use strategically. More specifically, the presentinvention relates to dynamic facility models that highlightopportunities to reduce resource consumption while allowing a facilitymanager to cost-effectively meet facility resource requirements, byfacility modelization for facility benchmarking.

Facility managers often face a daunting task in their efforts to reducecosts associated with the consumption of electricity, gas and water(i.e., resources generally). Consider as an example the infrastructureof a typical major airport. The facility manager must cost-effectivelyprovide the utility needs for an infrastructure consisting of mainrunways, aircraft taxiing and parking areas, main airport buildings,passenger transport systems, and buildings housing franchised companiesspread over several miles of land. Similarly, the facility managers forpublic school systems, with monumental infrastructure needs, struggle todeliver the best educational environment for the fewest dollars. Incertain more heavily competitive private markets, facility managers forgiant retail stores, such as Wal-Mart, must cost-effectively supply theresource needs for stores located in diverse areas of the country.

Cost-effectively meeting the resource demands of diverse facilities is acomplicated task. Different facilities, while having similar attributes,will often have different resource utilization patterns. In fact, theresource utilization patterns for a particular facility may vary overtime due to changes in the facility attributes. Consequently, toaccurately model a facility and to then accurately benchmark facilityresource consumption, a dynamic modeling process is required (i.e., aprocess that not only considers facility attributes, but changes infacility attributes over time).

Conventional practices, while using the well-known concept of datanormalization, do not typically have the ability to track changes infacility attributes over time. When a process does not have the abilityto track changes in facility attributes, any such facility model willtend to be or to become inaccurate and any data generated using such amodel would likewise be inaccurate.

For example, if one wishes to know the amount of electrical power afacility uses per employee, for the period of one year, one mustdetermine the total power used and the number of people employed, at alltimes during the year in question in order to generate accurate data.Using conventional methodology, one could obtain the power utilizationdata from the power utility. However, unless the number of employeesremained constant during the year in question, one would be forced toestimate the number of employees employed during the subject year.Finally, to obtain normalized data, such a conventional process woulddivide the power utilization data by the estimated number of employees.While such information might be useful to a limited extent, as noted, itwould not be completely accurate.

Likewise, changing the number of personal computers, copiers, vendingmachines, employees or the number of offices (among many other potentialchanges) all can significantly affect the electrical load on a facility.Therefore, such conventional modeling methodology would generateinaccurate data if the attributes of interest were the number ofcomputers, number of offices, or any other attribute that changed duringthe time period of interest.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention recognizes and addresses various of the foregoinglimitations and drawbacks, and others, of such conventional practices.In such context, the present invention recognizes that having completeinformation concerning resource consumption is desirable to a facilitymanager wishing to monitor and control/reduce such resource consumption.

Thus, broadly speaking, one principal object of the present invention isto provide improved method and apparatus for facility modelization.Another broad object is to provide such improved facility modelizationin the context of improved facility benchmarking capabilities. In suchcontext, a general object is to provide improved method and apparatusfor looking at resource consumption strategically by creating dynamicfacility models that highlight opportunities to reduce resourceconsumption while allowing facility managers to cost-effectively meetfacility resource requirements.

Another general object of the present invention is to provide, forcustomers with multiple facilities, improved method and apparatus forcomparing and benchmarking such respective facilities based on resourceconsumption.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide improvedmethod and apparatus for comparing and benchmarking multiple facilities,owned by different customers, based on resource consumption.

Another present object is to present facility resource utilization dataand benchmarking data in the form of historical and/or real-time reportsthat highlight opportunities to reduce resource consumption and maximizeresource consumption efficiency.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide to allcustomers a methodology and apparatus resulting in centralized access toall facility models and resource consumption data.

Additional objects and advantages of the present invention are set forthin, or will be apparent to those skilled in the art from, the detaileddescription herein. Also, it should be further appreciated thatmodifications and variations to the specifically illustrated,referenced, and discussed steps or features hereof may be practiced invarious uses and embodiments of this invention without departing fromthe spirit and scope thereof, by virtue of present reference thereto.Such variations may include, but are not limited to, substitution ofequivalent steps or features for those shown, referenced or discussed,and the functional, operational, or positional reversal of variousfeatures, steps, parts, or the like. Still further, it is to beunderstood that different embodiments, as well as different presentlypreferred embodiments, of this invention may include variouscombinations or configurations of presently disclosed steps, features orelements, or their equivalents (including combinations of steps,features or parts or configurations thereof not expressly shown in thefigures or stated in the detailed description).

One exemplary such embodiment of the present invention relates to amethod for modeling of facility performance. Such method may comprisethe steps of assigning a predefined template to a facility to bemodeled, obtaining resource utilization data for such facility, andnormalizing such resource utilization data.

More preferably, a facility editor is used to assign predefinedtemplates to a facility, which templates contain a list of facilityattributes. The templates may include default facility attribute data.Likewise, the attributes are selected from an attribute catalogcontaining a list of user-defined and system-defined attributes.Importantly, as a facility changes over time, such facility templatesand the attribute catalog may be updated to reflect such changes,thereby in such respect creating dynamic facility models.

The present invention is further functional in certain embodiments fordetermining the combined normalized resource utilization data for two ormore facilities or groups of facilities. In certain such embodiments,the present invention may retrieve such facility resource utilizationdata and facility attribute data for two or more facilities and use anaggregation process or function to determine the total sum of such data.For example, assume that data for three facilities are retrieved, wherethe resource utilization data of interest is kWh, and the facilityattribute data of interest is the number of employees. Such an exemplaryaggregation process will return the total electricity consumption andthe total number of employees for all three facilities. Next, thenormalization process will generate normalized resource utilization datausing such aggregate values.

Using such aggregation and normalization methodology, exemplaryembodiments of the present invention have the ability to performnumerous comparisons based on facility resource utilization. Suchcomparisons include, but are not limited to, comparing normalized datafor all facilities owned by an entity, all similar facilities owned byan entity, a user defined group of facilities owned by an entity, onefacility compared to the aggregated data for a group of facilities, theaggregated data for facility group 1 compared to aggregated data forfacility group 2, or for any combination of facilities, or group offacilities, regardless of ownership. In addition, such comparisons maybe used to benchmark facilities based on normalized data.

In further exemplary embodiments of the present invention, upongenerating either normalized data or benchmarking results, the presentinvention may generate historical and/or real-time reports presentingthe facility modeling process or data derived therefrom in auser-defined format. Such data normalization, data aggregation, andreport generation steps in exemplary embodiments may be activated by theoccurrence of selected of the following events: user update of facilityattribute data, user demanded report generation, or after a predefinedperiod of time elapses. Such exemplary resource utilization data mayrepresent such as energy, water, natural gas, or oil consumption. Incertain preferred embodiments, the resource utilization data, thefacility modeling process, and the reports (all types) would bemaintained at a centralized location, such as on a utility provider'smainframe computer system, and made available to customers such as viathe Internet or some other interconnected (either wired and/or wireless)electronic medium.

Another present exemplary embodiment of the present invention concerns amethod for facility modeling and benchmarking. Such a method may includethe steps of creating an attribute catalog, assigning attributes to atemplate, assigning selected of such templates to a facility, obtainingresource utilization data associated therewith, and normalizing suchresource utilization data.

More preferably, the attributes catalog may comprise selected ofuser-defined and system-defended attributes. A template editor ideallyassigns attributes to a new or pre-existing template selected ofuser-defined or system-defined templates. Similarly, a facility editormay assign templates (selected of user-defined or system-definedtemplates) to a facility. Furthermore, a benchmarking process maycompare normalized resource utilization data for two or more facilitiesand may rank (i.e., benchmark) such facilities based on resourceconsumption.

Yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention involves amethod for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resourceutilization of such facilities, comparing resource utilizationefficiency of such facilities, and generating reports in a user definedformat that includes various combinations of the foregoing steps,further including the step of presenting such data in the form ofhistorical and/or real-time reports. In certain such embodiments, theexemplary methodology may further include making such resourceutilization data and reports available to a customer via the Internet orsome other interconnected (wired and/or wireless) electronic medium.

In another exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides animproved apparatus for creating dynamic facility models in relation toresource utilization of such facilities. A facility editor is used toassign predefined templates to a facility. A data retrieval means isprovided for obtaining resource utilization data for such facility whilea data normalization means is provided for normalizing such resourceutilization data, based on the predefined facility template. In certainof such preferred embodiments, the predefined template may includedefault facility attribute data.

Facility templates in certain embodiments may contain a list of facilityattributes selected from a list of attributes contained in an attributecatalog. To make facility models dynamic, a means may be provided forcreating new facility attributes, adding new facility attributes to anattributes catalog, and/or deleting facility attributes from theattributes catalog. Such data retrieval means may be further functionalfor obtaining resource utilization data as well as facility attributedata for two or more facilities.

In accordance with the present invention, a single facility may bebenchmarked based on resource utilization without requiring a dataaggregation process. When benchmarking two or more facilities based onresource utilization in accordance with exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, aggregation of all resource utilization data and allfacility attribute data, for the facilities being benchmarked, isutilized. Thus, the present invention provides in certain instances bothnormalization and aggregation means. Once aggregation, normalization,and/or benchmarking tasks are complete, a reporting means may beprovided for generating historical and/or real-time reports. Finally, anelectronic media means, such as the internet, or other interconnecting(wired and/or wireless) electronic media, may be preferably practiced tosupply customer access to selected of: facility modeling means, resourceutilization data retrieval means, normalization means, normalized databenchmarking means, and a historical and/or real-time reports means.

Additional embodiments of the subject invention, not necessarilyexpressed in this summarized section, may include and incorporatevarious combinations of aspects of features or parts referenced in thesummarized objectives above, and/or other features or parts as otherwisediscussed in this application. It should also be understood that thepresent invention equally pertains to apparatuses and devicescorresponding with the exemplary metholodogies referenced, and viceversa.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will better appreciate the featuresand aspects of such embodiments, and others, upon review of theremainder of the specification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including thebest mode thereof, directed to one of the ordinary skill in the art, isset forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appendedfigures, in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary display for a facility attribute catalogeditor in accordance with a present exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary display for a facility template editorscreen in accordance with a present exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary display for a facility Instances (i.e.,defined points in time) management screen in accordance with a presentexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary facility model architecture sample inaccordance with a present exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 5 an exemplary list of sample so-called Instances for an aggregatedfacility; and

FIG. 6 diagrammatically depicts an exemplary embodiment of a sampleorganization with which certain embodiments of the present invention maybe operative.

Repeat use of reference characters throughout the present specificationand appended drawings is intended to represent same or analogousfeatures, elements or steps of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention,one or more examples of which are set forth below. Each example isprovided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of theinvention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatvarious modifications and variations can be made in the presentinvention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.For instance, features or steps illustrated or described as part of oneembodiment can be used on or with another embodiment to yield a stillfurther embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present inventioncover such modifications and variations as come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents. Other objects, features, andaspects of the present invention are disclosed in or may be determinedfrom the following detailed description, which is not intended aslimiting the broader aspects of the present invention.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a utilitycustomer with a method for looking at energy use strategically bycreating dynamic facility models. One full featured exemplary embodimentof the present invention may include (1) “Attribute Catalog”, (2)“Template Editor”, (3) “Facility Editor”, (4) “Normalization Process”,(5) “Aggregation Process” and (5) “Benchmarking Process.” Reference willnow be made in detail to the above components which in accordance withthe subject invention may be practiced in various combinations,configurations and constructions as different embodiments of suchinvention. While the particulars of the present invention may be fullyand readily adapted by those of ordinary skill in the art for use inmodeling and benchmarking a facility using gas, water, oil, etc., theexamples discussed herein simply are in the context of electrical powerconsumption.

An exemplary attribute catalog editor 10, shown in FIG. 1, allows a usersuch as a system administrator to manage a list of facility attributes.An exemplary facility catalog editor displays a Facility ID 12, anattribute Name 14 (such as “Floor Area”), an attribute Unit 16 (such assquare feet), and an attribute default value 18. Facility attributes maybe modified 20, added 24, or deleted 26 as desired, in accordance withthe present invention. If the user decides to make no modifications, theoperation may be canceled 22 and no changes will be made.

The attribute catalog also displays the number of attributes 30associated with the subject facility ID. The user can scroll through theattribute list for a particular facility ID by using a slide-bar orarrow menu feature 28. If a user wishes to change the units for aparticular attribute, the units may be typed directly into window 16 orselected from a list of units using dropdown arrow 17. The user pressesthe “Apply” button 20 to add the selected attribute to a list ofattributes for the facility referenced by the facility ID shown inwindow 12 and the attributes counter 30 is automatically incremented.

“Button” as used herein includes virtually or computer-generated imagesof buttons or similar, onto which the user “clicks” or otherwiseindicates actuation thereof. They may also be regarded as specializedfunction keys, provided in accordance with the subject invention.

While transparent to the user, the attribute catalog has two differenttypes of attributes: (1) “System-Defined” attributes, and (2) “UserDefined” attributes. For example, a large retailer (e.g., a Wal-Martstore) may have an attribute not listed among the “System-Defined”attributes. Therefore, a system administrator for such Wal-Mart store(s)could in accordance with the present invention create a “New” attribute24 (FIG. 1) and add it to the Wal-Mart attribute catalog. Such new entryconstitutes a “User-Defined” entry. In such example, only Wal-Martstores would have access to such new “User-Defined” attribute whereasthe “System-Defined” attributes are global to the entire system and canbe accessed and utilized by all users.

Please note that the list of “System-Defined” attributes are preferablyas extensive and complete as possible for a given context. When usersmodel facilities using “System-Defined” attributes, the probability thatdifferent facilities will be modeled using identical facility attributesgreatly increases. This, in turn, will maximize the benefits derivedfrom using the benchmarking process (described in greater detail below).Consequently, a system level process, not accessible to a user, isoperative for reclassifying a “User-Defined” attribute as a“System-Defined” attribute whenever a predetermined percentage of usershave added such “User-Defined” attribute to the attributes catalog. Suchpredetermined percentage may be varied in accordance with the presentinvention.

Once the user has defined all attributes necessary to model a particularfacility, the user then, in accordance with certain preferredembodiments of the subject invention, preferably interacts with anexemplary facility template editor 32, shown in FIG. 2, to setup a newfacility template or to edit an already existing facility template. Forexample, the user would create a new template by actuating “New” button52 and giving such new template a name. Next the user selects, from thelist of attributes displayed in an exemplary “window” 36, all theattributes that are to be assigned to such template. A separate window42 may preferably list all attributes associated with the templateidentified by the name shown in a template selection window 34. Theattribute catalog window 36 preferably lists all attributes that havenot been assigned to the selected template. Attributes may be moved backand forth between attribute catalog window 36 and template window 42using “buttons” or virtual function keys 38 and 40.

Should a user wish to edit or delete a template, such user in accordancewith the subject invention would select the template of interest so thatthe template's name appears in the template selection window 34.Pressing down-arrow button 35 activates a drop-down menu to assist inselecting the desired template. Once such template has been selected, toedit the template, the user would actuate an edit button 50. After allchanges are made, the user simply presses an “Apply” button 44 toconfirm the changes or a “Cancel” button 46 to abandon the changes andreturn the original values. To delete the template, the user actuatesthe “Delete” button 48.

Please note that while facility attribute values may remain constant fora period of time (or an instant in time), facility attribute values havebeen found to rarely be constant for all time. Consequently, certainfacility attribute values will change over time and such changes must beaccounted for in the modeling process to yield accurate data.

In accordance with the present invention, an exemplary facility editor56, FIG. 3, may be used to define points in time (referenced herein asInstances) where new attribute values are entered into the system. Whenthe user updates facility attribute values, thereby refining a facilitymodel, such event marks the end of Instance X and the beginning of anInstance X+1. The facility model accuracy increases as time passes andas the number of Instances increases, which in turn, results in datathat is increasingly representative of the real world.

To refine a facility model, the user selects the appropriate month 58,year 62, and day 65 representing the date of the change. A month isselected using drop-down arrow 60, a year is selected using drop-downarrow 64, and a day is selected by pressing the appropriate day button65. Next, the template name that contains the attribute(s) to be changedshould appear in template name window 82. This template can be chosenusing the drop-down menu accessed by down-arrow 84. The instance thatcontains the attribute value(s) to be changed must now be selected usingthe Instance navigator keys 94.

It should be noted that the attributes associated with a given Instancewill be shown in attribute window 86. To edit attribute values, the userpresses the “Edit” button 70. Once all modifications have been made, theuser would preferably press an “Apply” button 68 to record (i.e.,incorporate) such changes. The user presses the “Cancel” button 66 toabandon changes. The user may remove an instance by pressing “Delete”button 78. A designated “Refresh” button 80 is used to refresh, orupdate, the present screen so that it displays current information.

Once a user has generated the required facility modeling information,various facility modeling processes, steps or functions (e.g., datanormalization, data aggregation, facility benchmarking, reportgeneration) may be activated (operational). In accordance with certainpresent embodiments, such functions may be activated when one of theseevents occurs: (1) a user activates such functions, (2) a user updates afacility model, or (3) a predetermined period of time elapses.

To help visualize and understand a Facility Model in accordance with thesubject invention, FIG. 4 represents a sample or exemplary FacilityModel Architecture 96. Sample Facility Model Architecture 96 shows aglobal attribute catalog 98 which is used to create two model templates:(1) Model Template A 100, and (2) Model Template B 102. In this example,Model Template A has three attributes while Model Template B has onlytwo attributes. Three Model A instances 104 and two Model B instances106 are represented.

For Model A Instance X, shown in FIG. 4, the facility area is 100,000square feet, the number of employees is 50, and the number of outsidedoors is 15. For Model A Instance X+1, the facility area is still100,000 square feet, but the number of employees has increased to 52,while the number of outside doors is still 15. Please note that updatingthe number of employees in this example marks the ending of Instance Xand the beginning of Instance X+1.

When a facility Instance ends, as described above, the datanormalization, aggregation, and benchmarking processes, steps orfunctions in accordance with the subject invention may be activated by auser as desired. For example, when a user is only interested innormalized data for one facility, the normalization process may beactivated next. If, however, a user is interested in normalized data fora group of facilities, the aggregation process may be next activated inaccordance with exemplary embodiments of the subject invention.

Whenever the normalization process is activated, it entails the process,in this example, of dividing a load profile channel, such askiloWatt-hours (kWh), by a facility attribute, such as number (#) ofemployees, to obtain a new data set such as “kWh/employee”. Withreference to Model A Instance X (104), shown in FIG. 4, described above,assume that the resource utilization data of interest is the amount ofelectricity consumed during Instance X and that such value (in thisexample) is 500 kWh. Noting from FIG. 4 that the number of employees forInstance X is fifty, the subject exemplary normalization process woulddivide 500 kWh by 50 employees to give the normalized data of 10kWh/employee.

Now consider as an example Model A Instance X+1 (FIG. 4). Noting thatthe number of employees has changed to fifty-two, and again assumingthat (for such Instance X+1) the electricity consumed is 500 kWh, thenormalized data for Instance X+1 is (as rounded) 9.6 kWh/employee (i.e.,500/52). Such normalized data for example could show the facilitymanager that adding two employees has not increased electrical energycost for the facility. In fact, the electrical energy cost per employeeis shown to have decreased slightly (based on the totally hypothetical,exemplary data indicated).

To generate aggregate normalized resource utilization data in accordancewith the subject invention, an aggregation process is involved.Aggregate normalized resource utilization data is required when a userdesires normalized data for a group of facilities. For example, withreference to present exemplary FIG. 5, “List of Instances for anAggregated Facility” 108, three facilities are being compared. For thisexample, assume that the attribute being tracked is the number ofemployees. There are three so-called “Sub Facilities” in this example:Sub Facility 1, Sub Facility 2, and Sub Facility 3. Five instances 110are shown for Sub Facility 1, two instances 112 for Sub Facility 2, andthree instances 114 for Sub Facility 3. In FIG. 5, the first Instance,X, 120, is defined as the first time a sub facility model is updated toreflect changes in a facility attribute. The second Instance, X+1, 122,begins at the moment Instance X ends. Stated another way, the end ofInstance X is the beginning of Instance X+1 and the end of X+1 is markedby the beginning of Instance X+2, and so forth for n subsequentInstances, X+n.

Once an Instance is defined, an aggregation process, step or feature inaccordance with this invention can sum the attribute values of interestfor all sub facilities. For Instance X (FIG. 5), such aggregationprocess in this example would add ten, thirty-two, and twenty for atotal 116 of sixty-two employees. The next step in such preferredaggregation process would be to sum the facility resource utilizationdata of interest—kWh in this example. Assuming that the energyconsumption during Instance X (FIG. 5) is as follows: (1) Sub Facility1, 500 kWh, (2) Sub Facility 2, 875 kWh, and (3) Sub Facility 3, 600kWh, the aggregation process would add the energy consumption data forsuch three sub facilities to determine a total of 1,975 kWh (not shown).The normalization step or function would preferably then be activated,so as to divide the aggregate resource utilization data by the aggregatefacility attribute data, and return an aggregate normalized value(rounded) of 31.85 (1,975/62) kWh/employee.

FIG. 6 represents a sample (or exemplary) organization 124 showing sevenfacilities owned by one user. Four exemplary facilities are located inan indicated territory, such as the Northeast 126 of the United Stateswhile three are located in the Southeast 128. Each exemplary facility(such as a store) has a Level-1 manager 129 while each group of stores,(Northeast, Southeast), share a respective Level-2 manager 130. Each ofsuch Level-2 (or group) managers report to a Level-3 manager 132. Whilea Level-1 manager may only be interested in the normalized data for hisor her facility, the Level-3 manager may wish to review the normalizeddata for all seven facilities individually, the aggregate normalizeddata for the four Northeast facilities, the aggregate normalized datafor the three Southeast facilities, and/or the aggregate normalized datafor all seven facilities, or some other statistical analysis.

Once the normalized or aggregate normalized resource utilization datahas been created, a benchmarking process, step or feature in accordancewith the present invention may be selectively activated. Suchbenchmarking, for example, may compare normalized data for two or morefacilities, as specified by a user, and rank (i.e., benchmark) eachfacility based on said comparisons.

Importantly, as Level-1 managers (see FIG. 6) update the facility modelsfor their respective facilities, Instances are created (as describedabove), new normalized facility resource utilization data may becalculated, and new benchmarking data may be generated at all managementlevels. Consequently, the present invention gives facility managers,whether responsible for one facility or numerous facilities,instantaneous facility resource utilization data and a powerful tool formonitoring and thus potentially controlling/reducing resourceutilization.

In further present exemplary embodiments, a report generation process orfeature may be selectively activated. Such report generation step orfunction may be used to present normalized data, aggregate normalizeddata, benchmarking results, and/or facilities models, all per userdefined formats.

While flow charts per se have not been illustrated, the discussion abovewith reference to specific and general examples has been provided insuch manner as to enable those of ordinary skill in the art tounderstand and use the invention. Specifically, exemplary methodologiesand apparatuses/devices in accordance with the present invention may bepracticed, such as with computer hardware and software installations. Insuch instances, those of ordinary skill in the art will readilyascertain the parameters of such particular embodiments based on thecomplete description within the subject application.

In addition, the present invention as described herein is not intendedas being limited simply by virtue of specific exemplary language. Forexample, different “button” names may be utilized, without substantiveimpact on the invention disclosure herewith. For example, “Apply” couldinstead be relabeled as “Enter” or some other practical and/orunderstood convention. All such aspects of the present invention may bevaried by those of ordinary skill in the art during the course ofimplementing specific embodiments of this invention, without departingfrom the spirit and scope thereof.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect tospecific embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated that those skilledin the art, upon attaining an understanding of the foregoing may readilyconceive of alterations to, variations of and equivalents to theseembodiments. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should beassessed as that of the appended claims and any equivalents thereto.

1. A method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation toresource utilization of such facility, comprising the steps of:assigning a predefined template to a facility to be modeled, saidpredefined template including default facility attribute data; obtainingresource utilization data for such facility; wherein selected of saidfacility attribute data and said resource utilization data is definedrelative to instances, said instances established by points in time whensuch data is either created or updated, whereby defining said datarelative to instances establishes how such data changes over time;normalizing such resource utilization data for selected of saidinstances based on said predefined template; providing the normalizedresource utilization data in the form of a report; and creating anattributes catalog, wherein said attributes catalog comprises selectedof user-defined and system-defined attributes; and further including asystem level process, not accessible to a user, which reclassifies auser-defined attribute as a system-defined attribute whenever apredetermined percentage of users have added such user-defined attributeto the attributes catalog.
 2. The method for modeling the performance ofa facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as inclaim 1, further comprising the step of using a template editor toassign said attributes to a facility template.
 3. The method formodeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resourceutilization of such facility as in claim 1, wherein said attributescatalog is maintained in a predetermined electronic storage.
 4. Themethod for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation toresource utilization of such facility as in claim 1, wherein saidnormalizing step is activated by selected of the following events: (a) auser update of a facility model by modifying facility attribute valuesto reflect changes to said attribute values; (b) the demand of a user;and (c) the elapse of a predetermined period of time.
 5. The method formodeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resourceutilization of such facility as in claim 1, further comprising the stepof estimating facility attribute data and facility resource utilizationdata for any period of time in the past.
 6. The method for modeling theperformance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of suchfacility as in claim 1, further comprising the step of obtaining saidresource utilization data and facility attribute data for two or morefacilities.
 7. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, inrelation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 6, furthercomprising the step of aggregating said resource utilization data andsaid facility attribute data, said data selected according to userdefined criteria for a user defined group of facilities.
 8. The methodfor modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resourceutilization of such facility as in claim 6, wherein said facilityattribute data and resource utilization data include the aggregate sumof said data for two or more facilities.
 9. The method for modeling theperformance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of suchfacility as in claim 1, further comprising the step of comparing saidnormalized resource utilization data for a user defined group offacilities.
 10. The method for modeling the performance of a facility,in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 9,further comprising the step of benchmarking said facilities based onsaid comparing step.
 11. The method for modeling the performance of afacility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as inclaim 1, further comprising the step of presenting said data in the formof one of historical reports and real-time reports.
 12. The method formodeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resourceutilization of such facility as in claim 1, wherein said resourceutilization data is selected from the resources of energy, water,natural gas and oil.
 13. The method for modeling the performance of afacility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as inclaim 1, wherein said modeling method and said resource utilization dataare provided to a customer via intercommunicating electronic media. 14.A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resourceutilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilizationefficiency of such facilities, comprising the steps of: creating anattributes catalog wherein said attributes catalog comprises selected ofuser-defined attributes and system-defined attributes; assigningattributes to a template selected of user-defined or system-definedtemplates; assigning selected of said templates to a facility to bemodeled; obtaining resource utilization data for such facility;normalizing such resource utilization data based on said predefinedtemplate, said normalizing step performed for different points in timewhen selected of said user-defined attributes and system-definedattributes are created or changed; comparing selected of said resourceutilization data so as to benchmark each facility based on saidcomparing; and comparing resource utilization efficiency of suchfacilities, and further including a system level process, not accessibleto a user, which reclassifies a user-defined attribute as asystem-defined attribute whenever a predetermined percentage of usershave added such user-defined attribute to the attributes catalog.
 15. Amethod for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resourceutilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilizationefficiency of such facilities as in claim 14, further comprising thestep of using a template editor to assign selected of said attributes toa facility template.
 16. A method for creating dynamic facility models,in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, and comparingresource utilization efficiency of such facilities as in claim 15,further comprising the step of estimating facility attribute data andfacility resource utilization data for any period of time in the past.17. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation toresource utilization of such facilities, and comparing resourceutilization efficiency of such facilities as in claim 15, furthercomprising the step of aggregating said resource utilization data andfacility attribute data, said data selected according to user definedcriteria for a user defined group of facilities.
 18. The method formodeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resourceutilization of such facility as in claim 14, wherein said normalizingstep is activated by selected of the following events: (a) a user updateof a facility model by modifying facility attribute values to reflectchanges to said attribute values; (b) the demand of a user; and (c) theelapse of a predetermined period of time.
 19. A method for creatingdynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of suchfacilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of suchfacilities as in claim 14, further comprising the step of using afacility editor to assign selected of said templates to a facility. 20.A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resourceutilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilizationefficiency of such facilities as in claim 14, further comprising thestep of obtaining resource utilization data and for obtaining facilityattribute data for two or more facilities.
 21. A method for creatingdynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of suchfacilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of suchfacilities as in claim 20, wherein said facility attribute data andresource utilization data include the aggregated sum of said data fromtwo or more facilities.
 22. A method for creating dynamic facilitymodels, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, andcomparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities as in claim14, comprising the step of presenting said data in the form of one ofhistorical reports and real-time reports.
 23. A method for creatingdynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of suchfacilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of suchfacilities as in claim 14, wherein said attributes catalog is maintainedin predetermined electronic storage.
 24. A method for creating dynamicfacility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities,and comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities as inclaim 14, wherein said resource utilization data is selected fromresources of energy, water, natural gas and oil.
 25. A method forcreating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization ofsuch facilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of suchfacilities as in claim 14, wherein said modeling method and saidresource utilization data are provided to a customer viaintercommunicating electronic media.
 26. A method for creating dynamicfacility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities,comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities, andgenerating reports in a user defined format, comprising the steps of:creating an attributes catalog wherein said attributes catalog comprisesselected of user-defined attributes and system-defined attributes; usinga template editor to assign attributes to a template selected ofuser-defined or system-defined templates; using a facility editor todefine instances where selected of said user-defined attributes andsystem-defined attributes are created or updated and to assign selectedof said templates to a facility to be modeled; obtaining resourceutilization data for such facility; normalizing such resourceutilization data for selected of said instances based on said predefinedtemplate; comparing selected of said resource utilization data so as tobenchmark each facility based on said comparing; generating one ofhistorical and real-time reports, the data contained in such reportsselected from facility modeling data, facility resource utilizationdata, and facility benchmarking data; and further including a systemlevel process, not accessible to a user, which reclassifies auser-defined attribute as a system-defined attribute whenever apredetermined percentage of users have added such user-defined attributeto the attributes catalog.
 27. A method for creating dynamic facilitymodels, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities,comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities, andgenerating reports in a user defined format as in claim 26, furthercomprising the step of estimating facility attribute data and facilityresource utilization data for any period of time in the past.
 28. Amethod for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resourceutilization of such facilities, comparing resource utilizationefficiency of such facilities, and generating reports in a user definedformat as in claim 26, further comprising the step of obtaining saidresource utilization data and facility attribute data for two or morefacilities.
 29. A method for creating dynamic facility models, inrelation to resource utilization of such facilities, comparing resourceutilization efficiency of such facilities, and generating reports in auser defined format as in claim 28, further comprising the step ofaggregating said resource utilization data and facility attribute data,said data selected according to user defined criteria for a user definedgroup of facilities.
 30. A method for creating dynamic facility models,in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, comparingresource utilization efficiency of such facilities, and generatingreports in a user defined format as in claim 28, wherein said resourceutilization data and said facility attribute data includes theaggregated sum of said data from two or more facilities.
 31. A methodfor creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resourceutilization of such facilities, comparing resource utilizationefficiency of such facilities, and generating reports in a user definedformat as in claim 26, wherein said attributes catalog is maintained inpredetermined electronic storage.
 32. A method for creating dynamicfacility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities,comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities, andgenerating reports in a user defined format as in claim 26, wherein saidresource utilization data is selected from resources of energy, water,natural gas and oil.
 33. A method for creating dynamic facility models,in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, comparingresource utilization efficiency of such facilities, and generatingreports in a user defined format as in claim 26, wherein said modelingmethod and said resource utilization data are provided to a customer viaintercommunicating electronic media.
 34. Apparatus for creating dynamicfacility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities,comprising: a facility editor for assigning a predefined template to afacility to be modeled, said predefined template including defaultfacility attribute data defined for selected instances that areestablished by points in time when selected of said attribute data iscreated or changed; data retrieval means for obtaining resourceutilization data for such facility; data normalization means fornormalizing said resource utilization data based on said predefinedtemplate; means for comparing selected of the normalized resourceutilization data so as to benchmark each facility based on saidcomparing; and means for reclassifying a user-defined attribute as asystem-defined attribute whenever a predetermined percentage of usershave added such user-defined attribute to said attributes catalog. 35.An apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, in relation toresource utilization of such facilities as in claim 34, furthercomprising an attributes catalog editor for performing functionsselected of: (i) creating new facility attributes; (ii) adding newfacility attributes to said attributes catalog; and (iii) deletinguser-defined attributes from said attributes catalog.
 36. An apparatusfor creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resourceutilization of such facilities as in claim 35, further comprising datastorage means for storing said attributes catalog.
 37. An apparatus forcreating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization ofsuch facilities as in claim 34, further comprising a template editor forassigning said facility attributes, contained in said facilityattributes catalog, to a facility template.
 38. An apparatus forcreating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization ofsuch facilities as in claim 37, further comprising means for estimatingfacility attribute data and facility resource utilization data, for anyperiod of time in the past.
 39. An apparatus for creating dynamicfacility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilitiesas in claim 34, wherein said data retrieval means is further operativefor obtaining said resource utilization data and said facility attributedata for two or more facilities.
 40. An apparatus for creating dynamicfacility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilitiesas in claim 39, further comprising means for aggregating said facilityattribute data and said resource utilization data, said data selectedaccording to user defined criteria for a user defined group offacilities.
 41. An apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, inrelation to resource utilization of such facilities as in claim 34,further comprising means for comparing normalized resource utilizationdata for the purpose of ranking the resource utilization of eachfacility based on such comparing.
 42. An apparatus for creating dynamicfacility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilitiesas in claim 34, further comprising means for generating one ofhistorical and real-time reports of selected data.
 43. An apparatus forcreating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization ofsuch facilities as in claim 42, further comprising electronic mediameans for supplying customer access to selected of said: (i) predefinedtemplate; (ii) resource utilization data retrieval means; (iii) datanormalization means; (iv) default facility attribute data; and (v)historical and real-time reports.
 44. An apparatus for creating dynamicfacility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilitiesas in claim 34, wherein said resource utilization data is selected fromthe resources energy, water, natural gas and oil.